Page 8 of Stay

There are so many walls, it’s chopped the whole place up. “What used to be in here?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t ask. It’s been unused for a few years and the price was right, so I took it. The blueprints were from when it was barebones, though, which I’m totally willing to take it back to. We can strip everything and start fresh.”

That’s a lot of construction work. And a lot of money.

Haley sets her cups on an abandoned desk and drops her large bag on the floor. “This…” she announces excitedly, “is where I want to display pictures of my best events. I’ve got some killer photos printed and framed already.”

I set my drinks down next to hers as she rushes past me to another closed off area.

Her voice rises with excitement as she says, “I’ll have pedestals for cakes and centerpieces over here so that when you first come in—” She spins around and runs smack into my chest. “Oomph.”

I grip her arms to hold her steady.

She smells amazing.

When Haley looks up at me, her cheeks redden. “Um. So, anyway.” She brushes the hair away from her face. That damned engagement ring taunts me. “Yeah. I’ll have a display. And then over here,” she says, grabbing my hand and pulling me down the narrow hallway, “is where we’ll have big meetings. And I want a loaded kitchen area over there.”

“A full kitchen?”

“For sure. With a wine fridge.”

“You need a fully functioning kitchen and wine fridge to work?”

Haley’s shoulders lift. “I want to offer champagne to my clients if the occasion calls for it. And also, I want to eat. I work long hours and it’s cheaper to cook here than to eat out all the time. My waistline can thank me later.”

My hand is still in hers. Of its own accord, my thumb runs along her ring again.

I can’t think past the fact that someone else has won her heart. Someone else will get to see her happy every day. Someone else is going to kiss her each morning and fuck her every night.

When we parted ways, it wrecked me. I just didn’t let anyone see it. After graduation, I went straight into another program to get my master’s degree and erased her number from my cell, because the temptation to call her was too much for me to handle. Hell, I didn’t even have the strength to look her up on social media because I didn’t trust myself to not stalk her.

She wanted a clean break. I made sure she got it.

But now Haley’s back in my world, and I hate it. I hate that she’s moved to my city. I hate that I’ll breathe the same air as the woman I’ll never have.

Because I never stopped loving her. It’s my biggest secret and right now it feels like my worst toxic trait. She’s marrying someone else when it should have been me. I’m a glutton for punishment asking this, but I have to know. “Who’s the lucky man, Haley?”

“There isn’t one,” she says so quietly I wonder if she spoke at all.

“What?”

“There isn’t one,” she repeats louder, and her cheeks turn red again. She holds her hand up and that fucking diamond gleams like a disco ball in my face. “This is fake.”

I must be hearing things. “Why are you wearing a fake engagement ring?”

“Long story.” She pulls away from me and clears her throat. “So anyway, I think over here would be a good place to—”

I spin her around and hold her hips, my eyes boring into hers. Those bricks I’ve stacked around my heart all day start falling. “You’re not engaged?”

Haley shakes her head.

“Are you dating someone?”

She shakes her head again.

“Are you…” Fuck, I can’t even ask this next question. It might just put me six feet under if her answer isn’t what I want to hear.

Haley stares up at me and bites her bottom lip.

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